By offensive position group, which Power 5 teams won National Signing Day
Excluding a few holdouts, the 2021 recruiting cycle ended Wednesday with National Signing Day.
Ninety-two of the top 100 players signed early, so we already had a very good idea about who won, who lost and who will spend every second of the next month surveying the transfer portal.
What follows is a breakdown, by offensive position group, of which teams and leagues fared the best at procuring top-100 talent, beginning with the most important position on the field.
Quarterback
5-stars in 2021 class: 5
QBs in Top 100: 13
What you need to know: QBs sign early, so there was zero drama Wednesday. The top 34 QBs in the country — the final few of whom just cracked the top 450 players overall — signed in December.
Oklahoma signed the No. 1 QB in the class, Caleb Williams. Ohio State and Michigan signed a 5-star QB, as did Georgia, the new landing spot for 5-star throwers. Washington snared a legacy in Sam Huard, whose uncle, Brock, starred for the Huskies in the late 1990s.
The SEC landed 3 of the top 13 QBs in the country.
The Pac-12 signed 4 of the top 13, led by USC, which signed a pair of elite pro-style passers. Remember this class if the Trojans make a Playoff push in 2022 or 2023.
Running back
5-stars: 3
RBs in Top 100: 7
What you need to know: Ohio State is loading up at the skill positions. In addition to landing the No. 5 QB in the class, the Buckeyes signed the No. 1 RB, too.
The Buckeyes were the lone program in the country to sign a 5-star QB, RB and WR (spoiler alert). Michigan is trying to keep pace, adding the No. 4 RB in the class.
Don’t feel too bad for Nick Saban. He added another 5-star RB, Camar Wheaton, grabbing him out of Texas.
That was the most notable border invasion, but there were others, including LSU coming into Alabama and getting Armoni Goodwin, the No. 7-ranked RB.
Wide receiver
5-stars: 2
WRs in Top 100: 17
What you need to know: This position again is loaded after WRs/TEs accounted for 20 of the top 100 players in the 2020 class.
OSU completed the skill position hat trick, adding the No. 1-ranked receiver in this class, Emeka Egbuka, out of Washington. It’s the 2nd consecutive year the Buckeyes signed the nation’s top receiver.
Alabama added to its collection, signing the other 5-star: WR, Jacorey Brooks, an SEC-ready 6-3, 185-pounder out of IMG Academy by way of Miami. He is merely the latest in the South Florida to Tuscaloosa pipeline. The Tide also added the No. 5, No. 6 and No. 11 receivers in this class.
No surprise that the SEC signed the most top-100 WRs with 7.
Offensive line
5-stars: 6
OL in Top 100: 19
What you need to know: Nick Saban is not messing around. Alabama signed the top 2 OL in the class, both tackles, and added the nation’s No. 2 guard. The Tide’s collection is, by far, the best in the country. And it includes a trademark poach, too: somehow getting a Brockermeyer to leave Texas. In this case, it’s Tommy Brockermeyer. (Twin brother James, a 4-star center who was ranked No. 189 overall, also is coming to Alabama.)
It’s worth noting that as well as Ohio State did with skill positions, the Buckeyes only landed 1 of the nation’s top 20 offensive linemen and only 2 of the top 44.
